Page 63 of Resist

Coulton shook his head. “No. My rebelliousness in high school was limited to stealing beer from my dad’s stash and drinking it in an orchard on the outskirts of Detroit with a bunch of my buddies a few of times.”

“Wow. You were a wild child,” she teased. “Your poor parents.”

“Most of my time outside of school was spent on the ice, either at practice or in games, or on the road for travel team. Guess my entire life has been pretty one-note.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” she said. “Just proves how committed you were to your goal. Meanwhile, I got into all sorts of trouble because I was bored.”

“That’s why I think the Big Brothers Big Sisters program is so important. Slade was falling into bad habits, hanging out with the wrong crowd. You’re going to love him.”

Ainsley gave him a knowing look. “Back to that, are we?”

Coulton laughed. “Yep.”

She sighed. “I don’t know much about kids.”

Coulton rolled his eyes. “He’s not a toddler, Ains. He’s nearly twelve years old, and he has more personality than twenty people combined. He’s freaking hilarious and likes to think he’s a ladies’ man, so he’ll probably spend the entire afternoon flirting with you.”

Ainsley’s lips tipped up at the corner. “Sounds like he takes after Jerome. That guy thought he could charm every girl out of her panties.”

“Could he?”

Ainsley snorted. “Fuck no. But it was funny as shit to watch him try. Jerome is a good guy. I’m kind of sorry I didn’t keep up with him.”

“Do you see many of your friends from high school?” Coulton asked.

She shook her head. “Not many. I mean, a lot of us are still in the neighborhood, but life took us in different directions. Three of my best friends had kids before we even graduated, so they’re busy doing the mom thing. A bunch of the rest of us are working all the time.”

“Jerome gets together with some buddies to play video games when he’s not at work.”

Ainsley lay on her back, sinking into the pillow. “I don’t have time for stuff like that.”

“Maybe you should make time.” Coulton knew she would dismiss the idea out of hand—and she did—but something had to give. Ainsley worked twelve to fourteen hours a day, six days a week, running a bar out of obligation rather than for the love of the job. It was a miserable existence, and though Coulton wasn’t quite sure how to help her break the chain, that didn’t mean he didn’t want to try. “In the meantime, today is your day off, and I want you to spend it with me.”

“The whole day?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I promised to take Slade ice-skating. You ever been?”

She raised one eyebrow at him, letting that be her answer.

“Rich-person activity?” he asked.

She tapped the end of her nose to let him know he got it in one.

“So, I’ll teach you.”

She looked skeptical, but she wasn’t saying no, which Coulton took as a good sign.

“Wait. Don’t you have a game tonight?”

He grinned, tickled that Miss I Hate Hockey knew his schedule. “I do. I want you to come. The team has a box reserved for family and friends of the players. You can watch the game from there, then come out afterward to meet my teammates.”

She was shaking her head before he’d even finished speaking, but Coulton wasn’t accepting no as an answer. He cupped her cheeks with his palms and kissed her before she could verbally refuse.

“Please?” he said, after a long, deep, and very thorough kiss.

“I don’t think?—”

“Ainsley, you can keep putting up roadblocks, but I promise you, I’m going to knock every single one of them down. I want you to meet my friends.”

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